I bought a Chesapeake Retriever and purchased this book to train her for duck hunting.

The book was very well outlined for each day and the corresponding training on that day. Not only did it teach you how to give proper training, but safe guarded you from using improper techniques that could damage your dog. As outlined I spend the 15 minutes every day with the designated training. Soon my dog progressed at a fast rate. Now she is a loyal companion at my side during cold duck hunts VERY excited to retrieve ducks.

Negative side about the book are the old pictures which were taken over 15 years ago. The advance training outlines the need for equipment that was either to difficult to build or expensive to buy (dog ropes leading into water, toe lines which cause pain to dog etc...) Also I wanted to finish training with a electric collar (for field use the first couple duck hunting trips) and the book gave no information on how to use one saying basically you are too incompetant or stupid to know how to use one properly so don't try. I did get a electric collar and it fine tuned my dog into a excellent retriever (and I no longer use the collar). This last feature about the book led me to give it 3 stars.

This book was easy to read and follow, making it the perfect book to start with. I recently got my first serious hunting dog and knew NOTHING about the process of training. I was seriously thinking of professional training her but no more. The book showed my what to do, when to it, how much to do, and that the person doing should be me. Though there is a lot of information in the book, it is presented in a concise and interesting manner. If you are a dog person, you will have a hard time putting the book done once you have started.

This book gives you lesson by lesson the course for training your dog. It helps you understand the psychology of training a dog. It is great for the first time trainer and veteran alike. I now have a high powered fully hand signal trained labrador that is a blast to hunt with and is fully obedient at all times.

A great book for anyone obedience training any pup.

This book by Malthus is essential for the evolution of the economy thought. Its principles were taken by others economist and sociologist to make their own theories, David Ricardo for example, one of the most important authors of the clasic school. Malthus recomendations had influenced remarkable politicians, who change importants laws in England based on Malthus ideas. A must for everyone interested in the early economy books.

"The germs of existence contained in this spot of earth, with ample food, and ample room to expand in, would fill millions of worlds in the course of a few thousand years." --Thomas R. Malthus, Principle of Population

When I filled out and mailed my census questionnaire in 2000, I reflected upon Malthus's sobering classic, An Essay on the Principle of Population. When I was in elementary school in the 1960's, I remember reading optimistic reports in my Weekly Reader that new high-yielding crops would make it possible to meet the food requirements of the world. If those utopians were familiar with Malthus's essay, their visions for the future welfare of humanity might have been less optimistic. However, if there was over-optimism then, it has largely vanished now.

Who has not viewed educational television programs discussing the severe stresses on the global environment due to our excessive consumption of both renewable and nonrenewable resources? Environmentalists highlight the dire energy and environmental problems facing us in the future. The poorer countries would also like to enjoy the benefits of industrialization that will, of course, further tax our resources and stress our environment. Even if we assume the environmentalists exaggerate our circumstances, even the scientifically illiterate comprehend that the capacity of the earth to support life is finite. In the face of such problems, Malthus's three "incontrovertible truths" are as relevant today as the day he penned them:

"That population cannot increase without the means of subsistence, is a proposition so evident, that it needs no illustration.

"That population does invariably increase, where there are the means of subsistence, the history of every people that have ever existed will abundantly prove.

"And, that the superior power of population cannot be checked, without producing misery or vice, the ample portion of these too bitter ingredients in the cup of human life, and the continuance of the physical causes that seem to have produced them, bear too convincing a testimony."

Both liberals and conservatives have hated Malthus's essay. It dumps cold water on humanitarian hopes and can be used in support of abortion rights and government restrictions on family size. To our peril, we would like to live, aided by technology, in denial of Malthus's postulate, "Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio." To our endangerment, we would prefer to luxuriate in ignorance of his observation that his postulate "implies a strong and constantly operating check on population fromn the difficulty of subsistence." Says Malthus, "This difficulty must fall some where; and must necessarily be severely felt by a large portion of mankind." Where will this "difficulty of subsistence" put a check on our currently growing world population?

When I was born in 1957, the world population was just under 2.9 billion. It is now over 6 billion. The U.S. Bureau of the Census estimates that the world population will reach 9.3 billion in 2050. With the technological enhancement of our ability to augment our means of subsistence, have we deceived ourselves into believing that we can indefinitely defy the principles of population that Malthus contended were "incontrovertible truths"? Are we robbing from our future by building up a high-interest debt to nature that will lead us to bankruptcy?

We are in need of the fortitude and love of truth that enabled Malthus to say of himself the following:

"[H]e has not acquired that command over his understanding which would enable him to believe what he wishes, without evidence, or to refuse his assent to what might be unpleasing, when accompanied with evidence."

Indeed, the evidence is clear to anyone not addicted to postmodern and new age paradigms of unreason. If we do not put a check on our population, then inevitably, as Malthus puts it, "necessity" will check it via "misery and vice." Thus, Malthus's essay is not just and old classic; it is an old classic containing a valid warning for people of our world today.

This small and often overlooked essay by Thomas Malthus is probably one of the most important essays ever written.

Way back in 1798 Malthus wrote this essay to expose how human population is still being kept in check by mother nature. Famine, plague and war pop up whenever a population gets too high.

The essay has been overlooked mostly because of the stance Malthus takes in this book towards the poor. He suggests that when you give money to people who don't work, you help them have children. This increases the population without increasing production of food. Also, by increasing the standard of living of these people, you then qualify more people to receive without working, exacerbating the situation. Malthus clearly supports workhouses to welfare in this essay.

This essay had influenced two notable people. First is Charles Dickens. In 'A Christmas Carol' you read how Scrooge said, "that if the poor would not go into workhouses, they might as well die and decrease the surplus population". This was aimed straight at Malthus. The second person he influenced with this essay is Darwin. While reading Malthus, Darwin realized that population pressure was that "natural selector" that made evolution possible.

If you want to read a piece of history, read this essay. If you then want to get a more modern and thorough take on the subject read Marvin Harris's "Cannibals and Kings".

If you have money. Read this book. No matter what color you are or even if you abuse your books. I will recommend JFK the movie who was named in a lawsuit as son of the man who saved RFK and we love him. Hail to the Chief RFK. You errored and loved man who knew it, I think you can guess what I mean. Good k.

i was kinda dissapointed in this book. the book looks awsome from the picture above, then you start reading it, and it kinda dissapoints you. the book is almost way in depth that you get lost. it mostly talks about the lawyers and how they got on, what they did during the trial, how Sirhan Sirhan can't remember jack squat from the assassaintion, and how this lawyer had another case going on and this and that. it's pretty dissapointing in my opinion. i'm gonna read it again though, more carefully. it's just that you get worn out that's all. it's like watching a 4 hour version of the movie Mars Attacks. anyway, if your'e interested in the RFK assassination, then buy the book. i just wish it would talk more about the actuall assassination that's all.

oh yeah, one more thing i can't understand at all. the book says that Sirhan Sirhan's lawyer in his opening statement says that he knows Sirhan killed RFK. but he was gonna prove that at the time he was under a transe. he was there pyshically, but not mentally. ha ha ha....a defense lawyer saying that when the evidence was clear that Bobby had a bullet hole in the back of his head when some 65+ witnesses stated that Sirhan fired from only the front. how can that be? 65+ witnesses see Sirhan fire at Bobby from the front, he's got a hole in the back of his head, nothing from the front, and the defense lawyer says his defendent is guilty of killing the would be 37th President????

alot of mystery surrounding this assassination. read the book.

In-depth research into Robert F. Kennedy's assassination at the Ambassador Hotel,L.A,on California's primary election night in 1968....one of those books that never leaves the fingers,all angles get covered,all bases are touched.

The books highlight,for me,is when it dissects Thane Eugene Cesar's role in the whole game. He was stationed directly behind Kennedy during the shooting & had admitted drawing his gun--& even privately admitted firing it. Cesar was assigned to guard the Ambassador hotel on the night of June 4 by the Ace Guard Service,a firm that had protected the U.S National Bank in San Diego; the bank collapsed in 1973 following several dealings with organized crime figures. Later on,as certain researchers uncovered more strange "alleged" Mafia connections to the shooting,a bizarre campaign of terror unfolded. Wald Emerson,a financial backer of research on the case,recieved threatening phone calls. The wife of attorney Godfrey Isaacs,who assisted the probe,died under mysterious circumstances. Journalist Theodore Charach,a leading investigator of the case who witnessed Bobby's killing,was accosted with a knife & asked to hand over evidence. His assistant,Betty Dryer,was knifed. And further incidents were described by Charach: "You see,the(Ambassador)hotel had Mafia connections too. Mr. Gardner,who was in charge of security,he disappeared. Now I don't know whether he's in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean,or where he is,but I haven't been able,you know,to locate him. And then another man,who was overall operations director,he commited suicide,& of course the files were destroyed,we found out,at the Ambassador Hotel". The Ambassador Hotel,in fact,had had mob ties since the 1940's,when gangster Mickey Cohen ran a major gambling operation there with some of it's personnel.

Fascinating insinuations of Mafia contacts,many reported attacks on those close to the assassination probe,etc,all support a reasonable presumption of Mob involvement in the murder...(I was stunned).

An incredible documentation,well worth the investment.

Going deep into the Andre Agassi character, Robert Philip focuses towards his not-well-known difficult childhood, telling the reader almost everything about Agassi's life in Las Vegas, just before introducing us to the all-new, all-different life he would go on living in Florida, playing and training to become the player he is today. Remember the book was written right after Andre's Wimbledon title, his first Grand Slam, so it would not tell the reader about anything that happened after. Beside that, it is a great book.

Extremely enjoyable and interesting book which tells the story of Andre Agassi from birth to the age of 21. Explores the ups and downs of a professionals day to day life and the pressure and expectations placed on the shoulders of a teenage boy. Comments on wins, losses, family, romance and other players. Truly a masterpiece!!!!!!

This book is the quintessential read for anyone interested in the composer be he the music lover realaxing to his recording of "Glassworks" or the avid "Glass-ite" with all five hours of "Einstein on the Beach" memorized (and I salute you). Whatever you wanted to know about Glass and especially the operas can be found here in the composer's own words. Like his music, Glass's book is fluid and encompassing. Seth Bedford (guiseppe@earthlink.net) Midland,TX.

Here is a spectacular explaination of Glass's Portrait Trilogy of operas (Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten), including lots of great insight into the musical subtelties, staging, casting, performances, and production. It includes several excellent pictures (color and B&W) of Glass, his ensemble, and scenes from the three operas. Also, a rare explaination of the staging of Einstein! A good read for anyone interested in modern music

if you do or dont know robert frank, you should still pick up this book. if you own a copy, buy another for a friend, its that good. not only does it show us all the goodies, it shows a lot of the baddies, too. the stuff from the end of the mans life doesnt strike my fancy, but it shows how he evolved.

i guess this reads like a biography if your not into page turning and picture glimpsing. but thats allright.

things to recommend for fans of this book: pull my daisy the movie by frank mention numerous times the lines of my hands published beforehand but includes plenty more goodies not included in this package

for fans of the above listed, check out this veritable omnibus, you wont be disappointed.

ryan maclean, 99

This book was great I thought! I just love the use of Black and White and color photography within the same space...I think Frank has done this with much beauty.

I am actually doing a project at the moment on photography and painting and the two concepts combined. If anyone out there can suggest more books and artists - please e-mail me!

This is a somewhat edited version of Robert M. Smith's diary that he kept during his year with the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers). Smith attended college before joining the Army, rather unusual for the time. He joined the AVG for adventure, like most of the pilots and technicians. And he kept a diary, as many of them did.

Smith's diary is especially insightful, and I used it a lot when I was writing my history of the Flying Tigers. He has a good eye for geography; I especially liked his account of driving up the Burma Road to the AVG's home base in Kunming.

I own the paperback; it was chock-a-block with photos, which I assume are included in the Schiffer edition. Good reading for all Flying Tigers buffs.

Robert Smith gives you the lowdown from the air field on what it took to get the Flying Tigers in the air and to the Japanese bombers before they could strike their Chinese targets. Here is the truly brilliant saga of how Chennault's revolutionary combination of ground observation, central data gathering and fighter scramble turned aerial warfare from hunt and peck to dispatch and destroy.

We take these technologies for granted now, but when Chennault first proposed them he was laughed at by the fledgling air forces that stumbled along between the two world wars with no vision. Chennault had the vision of what modern air warfare would become. He proved it with the Flying Tigers by taking an under-manned, under-equipped, and under-funded unit and making it into the bane of the enemy.

Robert Smith puts you there in the radio room, nursing the equipment, listening through static, sifting the reports and making the critical decisions to scramble the planes. The pilots got the glory. Smith told them where the glory was to be gotten.

This is a little known page in the history of aerial warfare that is told clearly, up front and personal, by a man who was right there in the thick of it.

I heartily recommend With Chennault in China to anyone interested in The Flying Tigers and/or air combat history.

i bought this book as it was a a suggested read by a big american design software corpoartion for whom i was an authorised trainer.
having picked up most of my training techniques from teaching or other teachers, or indeed practically picked up, i was intrigues to refine my techniques or expand them.
But, i found very little here of use to me, i think this is much more useful to people eho train in the vaguer sense of the word, as i was running professional training courses, i actually found a lot of the material given i disagreed with in practice, to be honest you just could not run a prodessional graphic design course like this.
maybe the ideas of teaching in England are a bit more quirky and persoanlity based, but these ideas are either common sense or patronising of the audience.
maybe if you are in some kind of business arena and completeley new to the whole field theres something for you.
I got nothing out of it really, and ive been a professional trainer for ten years.

I've had a bit of a hard time finding books on training the trainer to train and I feel that this is THE book that does it best. I work for a new company and ended up doing most of the training of new employees. I've thoroughly enjoyed it and this book helped me to be more effective at it. I love the 'instructor led, participant centered' idea that he presents. It allows me to treat the trainees as adults but we still have fun. Being new to training I didn't feel that he was talking over my head. It was to the point, useful information that I was immediatly able to put to good use.

Bob Pike has distilled hundreds of hours worth of classwork on theory and technique into one of the best books I've ever seen on the subject of teaching adult learners.

Pike gives hundreds of tips, tricks, examples, and outlines for instructors to use and adapt, and he gives something even better: his experience as an instructor *using them*. His credentials are excellent, and the style with which he presents this material attests to his ability to teach effectively.

This is a great reference for experienced instructors, but I think it is a must-have for those new to teaching adults. As the author states, "So many people get into training by accident." Just because you accidentally found yourself a trainer is no reason not to become good at it. With Pike's book, you will have a much beter chance (and much easier time) of becoming truly effective.

Highly recommended.

The fascinating man becomes clearer through the pages of his notebooks, which are uneven but rewarding. A must for Musil fans.

Robert Musil is one of the most complex and little known authors of the 20th Century. I am sure that anyone who has read "The Man without Qualities" will want to know more about Musil after getting to know his writing. Sadly, there is no adequate Biography available, even in German, so one of the best ways to get to know the Author is through his fascinating Diary. These were actually more Notebooks than Diaries, and they contain an encylopedic array of information on Musil himself, his intests, his ideas, and most interestingly his plans for the "Man without Qualities". So it is must reading for those interested in Musil. The English Translation Compilation, has two major flaws. First, it lacks an Index and other Critical Apparatus, and secondly, we do not which criteria were used to re-edit the Notebooks, which were originally edited by Adolf Frise. The German Edition has one Volume of Diaries = 1,000 pages and one Volume of Notes and Indices = 1,500, pages, making it useful for scholarly research, to look up subjects, names and places, and most fascinating Musil's sources. Still the English edition is of great interest to those unaquainted with Musil.

As other commentators have said, Musil's diaries reveal this fascinating writer's process of thought, and are not filled with the usual "then he said something and we laughed and ordered another round" entries. In the regrettable absence of an autobiography or good biography, the _Diaries_ are a good substitute.

Musil's eye is at once poetic and objective. I could only be astounded by the maturity of the young artist. His description of a horse laughing, of sunset on windows, of a waterfall looking like a silver comb, of his emotions when he and his wife Martha argue, show a sensitivity sharpened by training. Musil captures things as they appear to him with a minimum of fussiness. Also, there is often a sharp humour which comes flashing out.

Some people don't like _The Man Without Qualities_ and prefer some of Musil's other writings. Whichever works one prefers, these diaries illuminate Musil and his writings from within.

I'll add two minor complaints about the layout of the book to those already voiced. I object to endnotes, believing footnotes easier to read. Why flip forward and back so often? Some of the endnotes are repetitive, and greater care should have been taken over them. But those are small things, and have more to do with editorial decisions than with Musil, who here steps forth from a kind of shadow (for english readers).

This book can't be recommended highly enough.

I had just passed the Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 1.4 Platform exam (with a score of 80%), and I want to help prospective test takers in finding the "right" Java study guide. I was bewildered by the number of books available, and I had to try many of them before I settled on the right one. Here are my short reviews for each of the major Java study guides:

"Sun Certified Programmer & Developer for Java 2 Study Guide" by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates (five stars): I felt this book was the best among all the Java study guides. Both the authors were responsible for the Java certification exam's development, and the practice questions are *very* similar to the actual exam. The authors also cover exactly what will be on the 1.4 exam, pointing out potential topics, questions, and pitfalls. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

"A Programmer's Guide to Java Certification" by Khalid Mughal and Rolf Rasmussen (four stars): This is a good choice if you plan on taking the 1.2 exam. The book also has a dual purpose of teaching Java and sometimes goes beyond the actual scope of the exam, but it is nonetheless excellent. However, as the title suggests, this isn't the book for you if you don't have any programming experience. Also, the book's practice questions are much, much harder than the actual exam.

"Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide (3rd Edition)" by Philip Heller and Simon Roberts (two stars): This was the most disappointing book of all. I don't know why so many people swear by it, but the book appeared to have been rushed into production. Many of the errors and typos have been updated in the book's second printing, but the book's coverage of topics is quite weak. Lastly, the practice questions were not only too easy, but they don't look very similar to how questions look on the real test. It's not a terrible book (many people appear to have passed the exam with just this book), but there are better options.

"Java 2 Exam Prep" by Bill Brodgen (three stars): This compact study guide isn't a bad choice for prospective test takers with a good Java foundation. It covers all the exam's topics succinctly, but as another reviewer noted, it should not be your primary study guide. I personally did not find the book particularly useful.

Lastly, sign up for Sun's ePractice practice exams. You'll get three sample tests, and they will help you prepare for the exam by showing you how the questions will look and what type of questions they will ask. I didn't like the idea of spending the extra money, but the practice exams definitely helped me prepare for the real thing.

This book is very focussed on the exam objectives. I passed the programmer exam with a score of 98%. I used a combination of this book along with Exam Cram. This book will not teach you how to program in Java. However it will immensely help you in clearing the SCJP exam & learn a few finer points about the language. If you truly want to master the fundamentals of the language you have to read the Java Language Specification too, which by the way, is available on-line on Sun's web-site.

The book has a few drawbacks though:

1)It has a lot of errors, and you have to check out the errata list.
2)It does not cover GridBagLayout which is on the exam.
3)Collections is briefly mentioned only for a couple of pages. You have to look elsewhere (Core Java vol 2 is a good source) to understand collections.
4)The exam engine available on the CD contains the same questions as the ones which are given at the end of the chapters, so it's a waste.

I studied for the Java Programmers Certification Exam using the first edition of the book. I'd already had a few years of experience using Java on and off, and this book was a very helpful reminder of some of the finer points of the Java language that I'd forgotten or managed to miss.

I've heard that some people use only this book to prepare for the exam, but beware that Sun has recently changed the exam to require background knowledge of programming, not just memorization of Java trivia. I'd recommend learning Java from one of the several excellent tutorial books available (The Java Programming Language is my suggestion), doing some actual Java programming, then reading this book just before taking the exam.

I'm disappointed to hear that this new edition has lots of typos, just like the previous edition did. The good news is that Sybex now has a copy of the errata on their website. When I reported errata in the first edition, the Sybex editors put the errors on their website and corrected later printings of the book. If you do find errors in the book, don't just whine about it; do everyone else a favor and e-mail the errors to Sybex!